Ballast Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX)

Ballast Advisors LLC lowered its position in Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,381 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock after selling 632 shares during the quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Chevron were worth $952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Chevron during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Chevron by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. Valley Forge Investment Consultants Inc. ADV now owns 180 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Chevron during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Chevron in the third quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chevron in the first quarter valued at $36,000. 72.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Chevron Price Performance

Chevron stock opened at $157.59 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $155.03 and a 200-day moving average of $151.92. Chevron Co. has a 52-week low of $139.62 and a 52-week high of $172.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.12.

Chevron (NYSE:CVX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The oil and gas company reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.19 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $47.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.93 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 15.24% and a net margin of 10.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Chevron Co. will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

Chevron Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This is a positive change from Chevron’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.51. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. Chevron’s payout ratio is 57.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Alana K. Knowles sold 2,800 shares of Chevron stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.09, for a total transaction of $448,252.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 276 shares in the company, valued at $44,184.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Chevron from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $170.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Chevron from $185.00 to $198.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Chevron from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank raised Chevron from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Chevron from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.55.

Chevron Company Profile

Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the integrated energy and chemicals operations in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment is involved in the exploration, development, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification of liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas; and carbon capture and storage, as well as a gas-to-liquids plant.